Last year, SAP released an application to enable management and reporting of American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA aka stimulus package) Funds. The Act specifically mandates that government agencies provide transparent reporting to citizens showing monies spent and impacts made - financial, jobs and more. What's really interesting about this application is how it was developed. … Continue reading Stimulus Reporting with SAP BusinessObjects Solution
Open the Doors to Data in Vancouver
Vancouver is one of a small group of leading cities in North America that are opening up data to citizens. While most government decision making, processes and data (at all levels) are closed to the public, Vancouver has taken the unique step of publishing a Council resolution supporting Open Data, Open Standards and Open Source. … Continue reading Open the Doors to Data in Vancouver
Ric Matthews Speaking on Redtents Campaign: An Open Source Model
Speaking at a rally supporting the need for affordable housing in Vancouver on Saturday, Reverend Ric Matthews of United First Church elaborated on the theme of open-source collaboration without directly using that terminology. He used the Redtents campaign as a model of citizen engagement going forward. His message was that the campaign for affordable housing … Continue reading Ric Matthews Speaking on Redtents Campaign: An Open Source Model
DTES Kitchen Tables Project: A New Wave of Open Source NGO Coalitions?
A new trend of non-profit coalitions is emerging. Rather than formal agreements, groups are coming together - sometimes extremely quickly - in connected and collaborative groups. They are using the open source model to link themselves together in service of a common strategy yet allowing tremendous flexibility in tactics. Whether it was the broad-based TckTckTck … Continue reading DTES Kitchen Tables Project: A New Wave of Open Source NGO Coalitions?
Volunteering in Reading Week: SAP and UBC at Mount Pleasant Elementary
I had the pleasure of visiting Mount Pleasant Elementary School in East Vancouver yesterday. Susanne Hempel from SAP is leading, with the help of 4 UBC student leaders, 40 UBC students in a project to raise student awareness and knowledge around Sustainability. The entire school of 200 children ranging from Kindergarten to Grade 7 are … Continue reading Volunteering in Reading Week: SAP and UBC at Mount Pleasant Elementary
Demonstrating Value – Building a Dashboard for Potluck Cafe
Last year I worked with Heather O'Hara, the Executive Director of Potluck Cafe to put into practice some of the techniques I have been writing about. As you can see from the story below, experience taught both of us a lot about the value of this work and how to make it more effective in … Continue reading Demonstrating Value – Building a Dashboard for Potluck Cafe
Reducing Costs through Mailing List Cleansing and Skilled Volunteers at Quest
Another great example of how non-profits can utilize technology and skilled volunteers to reduce costs and improve services is with Quest Food Exchange. The Quest Food Exchange, run by the Quest Outreach Society, leverages an innovative business model to rescue food that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage and headed for landfills, and redirect … Continue reading Reducing Costs through Mailing List Cleansing and Skilled Volunteers at Quest
Free Software for Non-profits from TechSoup
Many of my posts talk about how non-profits can use technology to improve operations and better communicate with stakeholders. However, a big questions non-profits have is: How do I get this technology? My best answer is TechSoup. TechSoup Global, headquartered in San Francisco, provides a platform for non-profit organizations around the world to gain access … Continue reading Free Software for Non-profits from TechSoup
Cutting Reporting Time and Improving Fundraising with Skilled Volunteers at Arts Umbrella
Last time I talked in general about how skilled volunteers can contribute to community organizations. This time I want to talk about a specific example where SAP employees worked with Arts Umbrella to improve reporting and fundraising processes. This is a great example of how technology, combined with business skills (in this case sales processes) … Continue reading Cutting Reporting Time and Improving Fundraising with Skilled Volunteers at Arts Umbrella
Skilled Volunteering – Making the Most of Employee Engagement
Had a call today with two people from a US corporate foundation looking for advice on making best use of their employee skills in the community. This started me thinking more about what we are doing here at SAP so thought I would write about this. Most corporations these days have foundations to give money … Continue reading Skilled Volunteering – Making the Most of Employee Engagement
Constructive Public Engagement 